Located in the Driftless Area of Minnesota, just east of Rochester near the town of Elba and St. Charles, Whitewater State Park lies in a region dramatically sculpted by the Middle Fork Whitewater River, a crystal-clear trout stream that feeds the Mississippi River. The fact that there are no mosquitos (you read that right, in Minnesota and no mosquitos!) makes this an incredibly popular park. If you want to camp here, you typically need to book your site 90 days out. BUT I got very lucky and was able to get a spot only one day ahead of time. It pays to check for cancellations.
Below is the access to the river from my campsite. Nice, right?
What makes an amazing state park experience? If I could dream up the perfect place, what would it include? For me, it would be:
Private campsites along a crystal-clear babbling brook or river where you can dip your toes in the water, along with hearing the water at night
Plenty of hiking to explore the area with interesting geology, elevation change, and vistas to overview the area
No mosquitos
Swimming or access to water
No generator noise in the campground (non-electric sites)
Whitewater State Park checks 4 out of 5 of these boxes, making it a nearly perfect place to camp, hike, and explore. Generator noise will be a luck of the draw. I had an RV pull in next to my campsite and although they didn’t run the generator all day, they did have it on for several hours. (I have written to the DNR giving input on this ever-increasing problematic generator noise at non-electric sites at state park campgrounds).
Park is transformed since the devasting flood in 2007
Whitewater used to be an annual camping destination for us. We often got adjoining campsites with our dear neighbors and their girls and dog. We last camped there when our youngest was a tiny baby. Then in 2007, there was a devasting flood that destroyed bridges, buildings, and much of the park. The park was closed while they revamped campgrounds, added a whole new campground to the east, and built new structures.
Swimming beach before the crowds arrive
Our annual trip routine was disrupted and we moved on to other favorite camping spots, so when I returned 14 years later, I can barely recognize the place. It took me a while to get my bearings in this park that has so many vivid memories for me: hiking every trail, catching tadpoles in the swimming beach with our little kids, seeing fireflies for the first time, sitting by a campfire eating peanuts in the shell and Kevin reaches down to pet the dog only to realize it was a raccoon eating peanuts too, a different raccoon stealing a marshmallow bag from right in front of us and more. It took going to the swimming beach area, which hadn’t changed much, to bring together my memories with the reality of the revised layout of the park. The area we previously camped (Gooseberry Glen area) is now a day-use site with the restored prairie area along the river.
We had reservations for a weekend trip in July but canceled due to an extremely rainy weekend forecast. I’m okay with a day of rain, but there’s really no sense in going into the woods to just sit in our tents all weekend. I was disappointed to have to miss Whitewater this year—but had a last-minute idea to go solo-camping while Kevin and the boys were in the BWCA. I checked the camping reservation website and saw one open campsite for Friday night and grabbed it. I figured it might be kind of a crappy site, but quite the opposite, it was one of the best sites in the park! It was located right adjacent to an access point to the river. To be slightly critical, it didn’t have any grass and was all gravel/dirt cover and the sun dropped behind the high bluff early, so no sunset viewing. If those things are issues, I’d recommend the cart-in sites on the other side of the river accessed through Gooseberry Glen.
Hiking: Get ready for some steps!
Although trails that follow the river remain in the valley, many of the great trails at Whitewater will have you climbing some serious steps. The reward for those steps is some amazing vistas from the tops of the bluffs. The popular Chimney Rock Trail is a short 0.7-mile loop with over 100 stairs. Chimney Rock is a craggy column of rock that seems to have oven-like spaces at the base. Kids were scrambling into the “oven” when I was there, so I passed on the experience.
Rather than looping back from Chimney Rock, I headed towards Inspiration Point and back on the Trout Run Creek Trail to the South Picnic Area. Unable to find where the Dakota Trail started from this point, we headed back on the road and the Oxbow Trail back to the campsite.
We also did the Hiking Club Trail, which goes from the visitor center over the river and up the bluff to Coyote Point Trail. The trail mediates between the prairie and a birch forest edge before descending back into the hardwood forest with a few viewpoints such as Coyote Point.
I hoped to do the rest of the Dakota Trail and get to the western part of the park, but the 9.5-year-old dog isn’t as energetic as he used to be!
Solo Camping
I had never really thought about solo camping before but with a perfect weather forecast, I was game for a single-night camping trip (and there was no way I would find 2 open nights at a campground). Planning meals and gear for only one person is really easy, so the effort to get ready to go was minimal and made the trip worthwhile. I arrived at the park about 2:30 pm and was lucky to be able to occupy my site early (check-in and check-out times for campsites is 4 pm). Then I made the most of Saturday and enjoyed the park until about 3 pm before packing up. I'd previously never thought of one night of camping as being worth the effort, but this trip has changed my mind.
Pro-tip: Bring 2 camping chairs. This makes it less obvious that you are by yourself and the extra chair someone makes one feel less alone.
Bringing a dog when solo camping is a good conversation starter. I had a lot of good conversations with others that were sparked by Ozzie. He is a cute dog and people want to meet him. He enjoys the break from hiking and the attention. The downside is that the dog needs to go everywhere with you, including waiting outside the vault toilet!
My biggest errors when solo-camping were that I grabbed a book I had already read (I love reading when camping and was looking forward to starting a new read) and it’s been so long since I’ve played solitaire that I forgot how to set it up. With no internet, I had to improvise, and it was not pretty. As far as errors go, these are not critical, so no big deals. All-in-all it was a really wonderful experience and piqued my interest in heading out solo again, even if it's only for one night.
Beautiful park. You'd recommend any of the sites that run along the west side? (sites 45-56)